Monolayer textile-based co-laminar flow biocompatible enzymatic biofuel cell

Abstract

In this study, a body-friendly textile-based enzymatic glucose biofuel cell, which is applicable to wearable electronics, was developed. The microchannel of the biofuel cell was patterned by silk screen printing using Ecoflex. To develop this body-friendly wearable enzymatic fuel cell, a bi-enzyme system composed of glucose oxidase-catalase and glucose oxidase-horseradish peroxidase was applied to the anode and cathode, respectively. The catholyte mixed with glucose was saturated with O2 to enhance the fuel cell performance. The cell performance was affected by concentrations of enzyme biocatalyst and glucose. The best performance of the newly developed fuel cell was the peak power density of 43.6 ± 1.97 μW cm−2. The fuel cell was tested in an electrolyte physiological condition, and its power density was reduced to 25 %. Compared to the paper-based enzymatic fuel cell, the power density was approximately 11 % lower; however, the duration (11 h) was significantly longer. The performance of the proposed fuel cell was slightly lower than that of traditional enzymatic biofuel cells. Nevertheless, it is expected that the proposed body-friendly enzymatic biofuel cell has future promise as a power source for flexible bioelectronics.